Tessa's Wishes (Whispered Wishes #3) (6 page)

Holly nodded and shrugged her shoulders.

“And? Is anything going on with you and this mystery doctor now?” Ava asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I’m not sure,” Tessa said. “He apologized and begged me to let him take me to dinner. On a real date—sort of a do-over, I guess—so we can talk and get to know each other before he turns into an octopus again. I agreed, and now I haven’t talked to him since. He was here four nights ago, and said he had another marathon shift coming up. I’m guessing he’ll call once he catches up on some sleep, or maybe I scared him away.”

“I doubt it,” Ava said. “He knows you want to take things slow. Sounds like he’s just respecting your wishes.”

“I suppose. Still, a call or a text to check in would be okay. Men can be so literal sometimes.”

“And dumb,” Holly added.

“You see? This is why I stopped dating. I don’t want to be that girl who sits around analyzing a guy’s every move.
Is he going to call? When is he going to call? If he calls too soon, he just wants sex. If he waits too long, he doesn’t like me. If he only texts, he’s taking the easy way out. If he doesn’t text, he doesn’t care.
Without a guy in my life it’s just me and Sophie, and we’re all good.”

“Who says you have to be
that
girl? She isn’t the confident, independent Tessa Haines we know. The girl we know would sit here and say,
‘That doctor was kind of hot but got out of hand, so I put him in his place and made him beg for a second chance’.”

“That’s what I did.”

“Exactly,” Holly reminded her. “Because you’re not that needy, emotional girl you described.”

“That’s true, but on the other hand …”

“What?”

“It was nice to be wrapped up in someone’s arms. Someone other than my sisters’, I mean.”

“Someone
swoon-worthy?”
Holly teased.

Tessa’s lips curled into a smile and she nodded. “Someone swoon-worthy.”

Chapter 10

“So, you decided to come back to work finally, huh? Well, I hope you enjoyed your little vacation.”

Mr. Abbott wasted no time calling Tessa into his office first thing Monday morning. He sat behind his desk, drinking black coffee that smelled like the burnt sludge from the bottom of the pot that had sat for hours on end. It probably had been sitting there all week actually, since she was the only one who ever cleaned out that darned thing.
A woman’s job
was no doubt what he thought. He took another sip and had a smug look on his face, his beady eyes never blinking as he stared her down.

Was he trying to be funny? No. Her boss didn’t do funny. He was all business, all the time. Focusing on the gold plated pen and pencil set that sat perched at the edge of his desk, she tried to think of an appropriate response so as not to lose her temper. Last week was neither restful nor relaxing. She worked sixteen hour days, took care of a sick child, catered to a needy, arrogant boss, and barely ate or slept. She was pretty sure there was no vacation involved.

  “You told me it was okay to work at home while my daughter had the flu, sir. I was working the entire time and actually put in more hours than I normally do when I’m here. I checked in with you several times a day and sent you detailed time sheets and reports. You seemed okay with it all at the time. It was your idea, don’t you remember?”

He stared at her, sitting completely still; not speaking, or moving … not even blinking. He was alive, wasn’t he? Yes, he did appear to be breathing. Was he waiting for her to say something else?

“Well,” she stumbled, “the doctor said her virus could last up to two weeks, and my daughter was much better in less than a week, so I guess we got lucky.”

The doctor
. His shift was long over by now, and he still hadn’t called. However, there was no time to dwell on him. At the moment, she needed to brace herself for what appeared to be an unexpected attack from her schizophrenic boss.

Mr. Abbott put his coffee cup down and tapped his fingers together, but still said nothing. At least he was moving now. Looking around his office, Tessa nervously waited for his response. There were no family photos, no plants, works of art, or other items normally found in the offices of professionals. The only items displayed on his dark paneled walls were enormous frames exhibiting his multiple diplomas and certificates flaunting all of his accolades. Sitting in the middle of the office was his oversized leather-topped mahogany desk with matching hammered nail-head daunting leather chairs for his clients, one of which she sat in. He had an executive-style chair for himself that looked more like a king’s throne. There was a bar set up in the corner with several decanters filled with what she assumed were various liquors. All in all, the office seemed like a perfect set up for an intimidating narcissist, like himself.

“Lucky is not the word that comes to mind,” he finally responded, handing her a stack of papers from across his desk. “These are the reports you did for Mr. Schilling while you were at home …
working
. You were going off of his old numbers and guessing. These will mean nothing to him. Monkeys could have done that and possibly better. These were a complete waste of your time … and mine.”

Taking the reports, she did her best not to roll her eyes. It wasn’t easy. He knew she only had old numbers to work off of when he insisted she re-do them all. She even tried to explain that to him. He purposely set her up to fail.
Again.

“Nicholas is in London right now. Call over to his office, and see when his new broker and bank statements will be available. I told him we’d have an interim meeting instead since we missed this past quarter’s meeting. I’ll need some preliminary projections right away. And they’ll need to be perfect. Then we’ll have to do a full work-up for next quarter. There is no room for error here. Do you think you can handle that, or shall I put a call in to the Forest Hills Zoo for a replacement?”

Tessa glared at Mr. Abbott. With Sophie being sick all week, and her boss appearing to act somewhat human—what with letting her work from home and all—she’d forgotten to scour the want ads for a new job. Stupid her for thinking he might actually be growing a heart.

“I can handle it,” she snapped.

“Good.” Getting up from his desk, he grabbed his keys and his briefcase. “I’ve got client meetings the rest of the day. I trust I can leave you alone to work.”

This time she did roll her eyes … directly at him.
Was he serious?
She didn’t care if he was her boss. She’d had enough of the
sirs
and other usual niceties. Turning on her heels, she walked straight out of his office. Her heart was beating so loud she could barely hear herself think. Let him fire her. She was fed up with his crap. She sat at her desk, turned on her computer with trembling hands, and waited for the repercussions of her blatant disrespect.

After several minutes, there was a knock on the doorframe of her office. Holding her breath, she refused to look up from her computer screen.

“I’m leaving now, Tessa. I’ll have my cell if there is anything urgent, although I have no doubt you’re more than capable of handling things. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good day.”

She opened her eyes wide, still staring straight ahead. “Thank you, sir,” she said, turning her head slowly toward him. “You have a good day as well. I’m sure everything will be fine here.”

Bringing her head back to her computer, she smiled. Maybe she needed to stand up for herself more often to gain some respect. First the doctor, now her boss. Yes, some of that spirit Holly was talking about was indeed starting to resurface after all. She waited until she saw Mr. Abbott’s car leave the parking lot and picked up the phone to call Mr. Schilling’s office.

Chapter 11

“Good morning, Nicholas Schilling Capital Ventures. How may I direct your call?”

Tessa twirled the pencil in her hands. Even the receptionist sounded pretentious, or maybe she was just happy. At the very least she was well paid. With the generous Christmas bonus that woman received, she made almost twice the salary Tessa did this past year, just for answering phones. Of course Tessa noticed … she received copies of Shilling’s bank statements every month. It was hard not to notice checks with that many zeros on them.

 Mr. Abbott’s idea of a Christmas bonus was letting her leave at four-thirty on Christmas Eve instead of five. She wondered if Schilling’s office was hiring. Wouldn’t that be a kicker?

“Mr. Abbott? I quit. Oh yeah, I’m going to work for Nicholas Schilling. But don’t worry, I’ll put in a good word for you. I’m sure after I’m done telling him what a stellar member of society you truly are, he’ll gladly keep you on as his personal accountant and financial manager.”
She smiled as she tried to picture his face contorting when she told him the news. Or maybe it would be more fun to have Abbott and Associates remain on as Schillings’ accountant. Stretching her feet out, she imagined what it would be like working for the other side: “
Steven, we’ll need those reports to be done first thing Monday morning and without error. Do you think you can handle that, or should we put in a call to the Forest Hills Zoo?”
She giggled silently to herself just thinking about it.

“Hello?” the voice asked. “Is there anybody there?”

“Oh,” she said, straightening back up. “I’m so sorry. Yes, this is Tessa Haines calling from Abbott and Associates. Can you connect me to Mr. Schilling’s assistant please?”

“Certainly. One moment.”

She scrolled through the texts and emails on her cell while the bland music played on the line as she waited. Still nothing from the doctor.

“Nicholas Schilling’s office,” the unfamiliar female voice said. Usually when she called, she dealt with Greta, his administrative assistant. They’d never met, but they’d been speaking to each other on the phone for over a year.

“Hello,” Tessa began, “is Greta available?” She knew she could probably ask the person who answered the phone for the statements, but then she’d have to explain who she was, who she worked for, and why she needed to see Mr. Schilling’s bank and brokerage statements. She doubted someone would just hand over that type of information without giving her the third-degree. At least she hoped they wouldn’t. Speaking directly with his assistant would be much easier.

“No, I’m sorry,” the frazzled voice said, “Greta is out on personal leave. I’m with the temp agency, filling in until she comes back. Can I help you with something?”

Huh, perhaps there might be an opening in that office soon after all.
Tessa laughed silently and shook her head. No, Schilling was probably way more demanding than her own boss. The temps exhausted voice alone seemed to prove that.

“I’m calling from Abbott and Associates. We’re Mr. Schilling’s personal accountants. My name is Tessa Haines and—”

“Yes,” the woman said, abruptly interrupting her. Apparently time she had no time to waste on the telephone. “There’s a note here that you’d be calling. Mr. Schilling wanted me to let you know he’s contacted all of the banks, and they expect to have his statements ready in a few days. He’ll have his financial assistant drop them off at your office early next week.”

“Oh,” she replied, surprised. That went a lot easier than she was expecting. “Great, thank you very much.”

Hanging up the phone, she was relieved to have accomplished the most important task on Mr. Abbott’s list. Now there really was nothing left to work on for Schilling today, other than clearing out all the old numbers to get the reports prepped for the new information. After that, she could tackle the growing pile of work for the other clients. Those poor
other
clients … they always took the back burner.

~~~

“So what do you think, Hol? It’s been a week. Should I call him?”

Tessa kept one eye on the parking lot as she talked to her sister. With her luck, Mr. Abbott would pull in and catch her taking a lunch break.

“Why not? It can’t hurt. With the schedule he keeps, he’s probably lost track of time. You could always make the excuse that you just wanted to let him know Sophie was doing much better or something.”

“Oh great,” Tessa said, taking a bite of her sandwich. For once, she remembered to pack real food and actually had time to sit back and eat it. “Now I’m using my daughter as a pawn to get men?”

“Only the hot ones,” Holly teased.

“I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right to me. I can’t explain it.”

“I can. It’s called fear, and it’s never going to go away if you don’t push through it. I thought we’d been over this. Anyway, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got to go convince a bunch of fifth graders they will indeed use long division again at some point in their lives. I’ll talk to you later. Don’t work too hard, and
call him.
Love you.”

“Love you, too, Hol—” Tessa started to say, but her sister had already hung up.
Fear … right.
She shook her head, attempting to rid herself of the feeling.
Why not?
With the phone still in her hands, she dialed before she lost her nerve. It went straight to voicemail. “Hi … Brandon. This is Tessa. Tessa Haines. I was calling to say hi. Well, and to thank you again for coming over to check on Sophie. She’s made a full recovery and is back at daycare. Um, anyway, I, uh, wasn’t sure of your schedule, but I know you had mentioned getting together again. And, well, I’m back at work, but it’s only during the day, so I’m free in the evenings … or on the weekends. Whatever works for your schedule is fine. I’m flexible. Just let me know. Okay. So … I guess I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks. Bye.”

Shit.
She threw her phone into her purse and shook it down to the bottom. Could she have possibly sounded anymore desperate? Putting her head down on her desk, she tried to will the powers that be to turn back time—just three minutes would do to erase that call. She could hear her phone buzzing from inside her bag.
Ugh.
Why did she bury it? What if it was Sophie’s daycare? She dug through and grabbed it in time to see she’d worried for nothing.